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Ask Slashdot: Advice For Domain Name Registration?

Posted by Soulskill on from the go-for-a-single-character-domain dept.

codepigeon writes: I would like to ask for your advice on selecting a domain name registration service to use (possibly registration with website hosting?). The last time I registered a domain name was around 1999, so I am out of touch with the current offerings.

I have visited a few of the major players' websites. They seem (mostly) similar in prices and services. I have also seen both positive and negative reviews for those companies. I am concerned about being locked in, or surprised with hidden fees. (I paid $75US for a year of service in 1999, now it is only $10.99US?)

I have been trolling Slashdot for about 15 years and respect the views of the users here more than anywhere else. I would love to hear your advice and/or warnings in this matter. I am looking to register a domain name for a development studio that is at the ground level (read: I'm the sole member). I have published a single app to one of the big app stores already and want to have a 'web presence' to publish information about my software and give users a place to submit complaints/requests. I currently don't see the need for any kind of major backend support for the website; simple HTML or JavaScript.

Which is the most trustworthy company to use for registration? Which ones have hidden fees or privacy problems?

14 of 295 comments (clear)

  1. You're the troll? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    So it was you, all along?

  2. NameCheap by cultiv8 · · Score: 5, Informative

    I've been pretty happy with NameCheap, the CEO recently did a AMA on reddit, you should check it out.

    --
    sysadmins and parents of newborns get the same amount of sleep.
    1. Re:NameCheap by arglebargle_xiv · · Score: 5, Funny

      I'd be happy to recommend NameCheap for .com and .com.au domains as well. But I have a question about domain name registration myself: I'll soon have to register some .cn domains, does anyone know a good registrar for .cn domain names with IDNA support?

      Check your spam folder for many messages from providers who'd be more than happy to register a .cn for you. They'll also sell you bulletproof hosting if you need it.

    2. Re:NameCheap by Larryish · · Score: 5, Informative

      NearlyFreeSpeech.Net

      Solid shared hosting and reasonably priced domain registrations.

      https://www.nearlyfreespeech.n...

    3. Re:NameCheap by seoras · · Score: 4, Interesting

      From the forum poster: "The NameCheap terms and conditions state they will pass the domain on to a third party at their discretion from 12 days prior to expiry."

      12 days prior, doesn't sound like any of the registrars I've used.
      Sure go ahead and use NameCheap but read their T&C's very carefully first.

      Email notifications aren't reliable, I keep a reminder alert in my calendar for my domain renewals.
      Having said that I get bombarded by renewal reminders from freeparking, networksolutions and godaddy when I have a domain a few months from expiry.
      You know, the "renew now and save 10% off" types?

      Glad this wasn't one of my domains that got the chop 12 days prior to expiry and then held to ransom to get it back...

    4. Re:NameCheap by jawtheshark · · Score: 4, Informative

      I pretty much use gandi for all my needs. They do .cn domains. Gandi is probably not the cheapest, but you get quite a lot for your money.

      --
      Ahhh...the great dumpster continuum. Many a free computer will be found there. -- sowth (748135)
  3. Not GoDaddy. by dgatwood · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Besides that, you're probably fine with any of them. My GoDaddy experience can best be summed up as:

    • On their hosting service, they limited all processes run by your user account (not just CGI) to a certain number of seconds. This made it almost impossible to upload large files, because they invariably timed out before the upload could finish.
    • Despite that limit, the service was still unusably slow because of all the WordPress and PHPBB instances whose full-text searches stink on ice. Requests to move my (purely static) content to a server that wasn't so bogged down were denied.
    • Then, I tried to buy a cert from them. After I made the purchase, but before it actually became available for me to retrieve, they cancelled the purchase and told me that they no longer offered the number of years that I'd bought, despite the fact that I bought it using publicly available links on their website.

    Let's just say I ditched them within the first month, and we'll leave it at that. I switched to DreamHost, and haven't looked back. Their service isn't perfect performance-wise, but it is so much better than GD that it isn't even funny. (Yes, I know you're just asking about domain registration, but lots of folks do one, then the other, so....)

    And whatever you do, don't get your hosting from the same company that provides your domain names. There are far too many horror stories of hosting-related disputes leading to frozen domain names.

    --

    Check out my sci-fi/humor trilogy at PatriotsBooks.

    1. Re:Not GoDaddy. by Terje+Mathisen · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I've had a single .org domain registered with and hosted by DreamHost for 7-8 years now, absolutely no problems.

      I also have 6-8 other domains here in Norway (.no) which are all registered locally but still hosted on the same DreamHost account.

      Dirt cheap, very stable and OK performance wise.

      I have a tiny search program written in perl (http://tmsw.no/pi-search/) which allows you to search for any given string within the first billion digits of pi:

      Even though the database + index needs about 5 GB, so obviously not cached in memory, I tend to get replies within 0.1 seconds or so:

      Find 19570725

      Found at 45,109,789: 061632112341128 19570725 293694235201198

      Total time = 0.099406 seconds (8 suffix lookups)

      I.e. my birth date is located about 45 million digits into pi. :-)

      Terje

      --
      "almost all programming can be viewed as an exercise in caching"
  4. Avoid lock-in... by BabaChazz · · Score: 5, Informative

    host with someone different from where you register your domain. That way if you find the hosting isn't to your liking, you can repoint your DNS and won't get held to ransom. What I'm doing at present is registering with MyDomain and then hosting on GoDaddy, which is fine for low-volume sites.

    For my Canadian sites, I register with webnames.ca, use MyDomain's DNS service, and host on whatever's cheap.

  5. Hover by SteveMurphy · · Score: 5, Informative

    Hover (www.hover.com) is great. No bait and switch tactics, spamming you on your way to checkout, sleazy superbowl ads or other gimmicks. And you get private listings included in the base price. They aren't the cheapest, but they are competitive. They will even switch you over for free.

  6. Re:1and1.com by hcs_$reboot · · Score: 5, Informative

    1and1.com is $0.99 for the first year for a .com, then it's a yearly $14.99. So why the hassle of having to migrate to another registrar after one year? $14.99 is expensive.

    --
    Slashdot, fix the reply notifications... You won't get away with it...
  7. One company *not* to use: Network Solutions by sydbarrett74 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Avoid them like the plague.

    --
    'He who has to break a thing to find out what it is, has left the path of wisdom.' -- Gandalf to Saruman
  8. Domain Name Front Running by RoccamOccam · · Score: 4, Informative

    Whatever you do, don't check with a registrar to see if your domain name is available, unless you're prepared to buy it at that moment! I recently had GoDaddy appropriate a good domain name that I was considering. It turns out that this reprehensible practice is quite common.

  9. Re:1and1.com by mysidia · · Score: 4, Informative

    $14.99 a year is not expensive.

    For a domain name it is. Go buy yourself a 10-year domain registration at OpenSRS, Name.com for $11/Yr, or Namecheap for $10.50, or EasyDNS for $12/Yr.

    Let's see.... the 1and1 registration costs $150. The others are $135 or less for 10 years.